Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0011168 (dysphagia)
 15,644 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Cantharidin, known popularly as Spanish fly, has been used for millennia as a sexual stimulant. The chemical is derived from blister beetles and is notable for its vesicant properties. While most commonly available preparations of Spanish fly contain cantharidin in negligible amounts, if at all, the chemical is available illicitly in concentrations capable of causing severe toxicity. Symptoms of cantharidin poisoning include burning of the mouth, dysphagia, nausea, hematemesis, gross hematuria, and dysuria. Mucosal erosion and hemorrhage is seen in the upper gastrointestinal (GI) tract. Renal dysfunction is common and related to acute tubular necrosis and glomerular destruction. Priapism, seizures, and cardiac abnormalities are less commonly seen. We report four cases of cantharidin poisoning presenting to our emergency department with complaints of dysuria and dark urine. Three patients had abdominal pain, one had flank pain, and the one woman had vaginal bleeding. Three had hematuria and two had occult rectal bleeding. Low-grade disseminated intravascular coagulation, not previously associated with cantharidin poisoning, was noted in two patients. Management of cantharidin poisoning is supportive. Given the widespread availability of Spanish fly, its reputation as an aphrodisiac, and the fact that ingestion is frequently unwitting, cantharidin poisoning may be a more common cause of morbidity than is generally recognized. Cantharidin poisoning should be suspected in any patient presenting with unexplained hematuria or with GI hemorrhage associated with diffuse injury of the upper GI tract.
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PMID:Poisoning from "Spanish fly" (cantharidin). 876 16

A 69-year-old man with advanced heart failure treated with a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device presented for evaluation of dark urine and severe dysphagia. Because of evidence of ongoing intravascular hemolysis with device dysfunction, there was a clinical suspicion for pump thrombosis. He had progressive end-organ dysfunction and was therefore treated with tissue plasminogen activator with prompt resolution in hemolysis and dysphagia. Although symptoms of smooth muscle dystonia could represent worsening heart failure in the setting of device failure, the observation may also be related to intravascular hemolysis as described in the prototypic hemolytic disease, paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria.
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PMID:Dysphagia in the setting of left ventricular assist device hemolysis. 2364 23

A 41-year-old man with a continuous-flow left ventricular assist device presented for evaluation of dysphagia and dark urine. He was found to have a significantly elevated L-lactate dehydrogenase and an elevated plasma free hemoglobin consistent with intravascular hemolysis. After the hemolysis ceased, both the black urine and dysphagia resolved spontaneously. Transient esophageal dysfunction, as a manifestation of gastrointestinal dysmotility, is known to occur in the setting of hemolysis. Paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria is another recognized cause of massive hemolysis with gastrointestinal dysmotility occurring in 25%-35% of patients during a paroxysm. Intravascular hemolysis increases plasma free hemoglobin, which scavenges nitric oxide (NO), an important second messenger for smooth muscle cell relaxation. The decrease in NO can lead to esophageal spasm and resultant dysphagia. In our patient the resolution of hemolysis resulted in resolution of dysphagia.
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PMID:Left ventricular assist device hemolysis leading to dysphagia. 2598